Apparatus for annealing moving wire



Oct. 17, 1939. J. cooK 2,176,582

APPARATUS FOR ANNEALING MOVING WIRE Filed Nov. 23, 1937 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR John Cook.

ATTORNEY Oct. 17, 1939. J. cooK APPARATUS FOR ANNEALING MOVING WIRE 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Nov. 23, 1937 INVENTOR John Can/f.

ATTORNEY Oct. 17, 1939. J, 000K 2,176,582

APPARATUS FOR ANNEALING MOVING WIRE Filed Nov. 23, 1957 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 y MI \NVENTOR Jnnn Can/f.

BY W

ATTO RN EY Patented 17 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE John Cook, Ridgcwood, N. J., aasignor to Cornish Wire Company, New York, N. Y., a corporation of New York Application November 23, 1937, Serial No. 176,033

2 Claims.

This invention relates to annealing apparatus, and more particularly to an apparatus for continuously annealing a rapidly moving wire received from a wiredrawing machine and prior to delivery to a spooling or coiling mechanism.

One object of the invention is to provide an open ended tube surrounding the highly heated portions of a moving wire, the lower end of the tube extending down into a body of water, so that the encased water in the tube will be heated to form steam, while the remaining portion of the body of the water will remain comparatively cool.

A further object is to provide a unitary ap-= paratus for drawing and annealing wire, having means to positively feed the traveling wire at both sides of the heating zone so as to avoid placing the soft portion of said wire under tension which might cause possible stretching of the same.

A still further object is to provide an apparatus of the above nature in which the electric heating current in the wire is controlled according to the speed of the wire so that when the speed of the wire varies, the current will vary in the same sense which will tend to maintain an even temperature of the wire and cause uniform annealing to take place regardless of the speed of the wire.

A still further object is to provide an apparatus for continuously drawing, annealing and spooling or coiling wire which will be relatively simple in operation and construction, easy to install and operate, inexpensive to build, compact, and very efiicient and durable in use.

With these and other objects in view, there 5 have been illustrated on the accompanying drawings several forms in which the invention may be conveniently embodied in practice.

in the drawings: Fig. l is a fragmentary side view of a combined wire drawing, annealing, and spooling apparatus embodying the features of this invention.

Fig. 2 is a front View of the wire annealing mechanism, including a diagrammatic illustration of the electrical circuit used therewith.

Fig. 3 is a detail side view of one of the electrical contact devices us'd in the annealing mechamsm.

Fig. 4 is a side view of a modified form of wire annealing mechanism.

Fig. 5 is an illustration, partly in perspective, of a wire annealing mechanism having a modified form of s'pcoling mechanism for permitting the annealed wire to be shifted from a filled to an unfilled spool without stopping the machine.

Fig. 6 is a. diagram of a manually controlled electric device for simultaneously varying the wire speed and heating current so as to maintain a constant annealing temperature in the wire at the annealing zone.

Fig. 7 is a sectional view illustrating a modified method of bright-annealing a moving wire, in which the heated wire is passed into the quenching water bath at such a high speed that the wire will be heated and quenched before oxidation or discoloration of the wire can take place.

Referring now to the drawings wherein like reference characters denote like parts throughout the several views the numeral l0 indicates the end wall of the casing of a wiredrawing mechanism, II the final-drawing die, I2 the wire-pulling capstan, and I3 a wire guide pulley mounted upon a resilient take-up arm H which is connected to a coiled spring l5. v

The numeral Il indicates a rotatable driven spool, upon which the wire after passing through the annealing apparatus is finally wound, while passing between a pair of transversely reciproeating wire-guiding fingers Ill. The spool I1 is mounted upon a pair of spindles i9, carried by a pair of upstanding bearing brackets 20 supported upon a rigid part 2i of the machine. The brackets 20 are electrically insulated from the machine part 2| by a plate 22 of insulating material. One of the spindles l9 carries a pulley 23 for rapidly rotating the spool by means of a belt 24 passing over the pulley 23 and driven from a source of power, not shown.

As illustrated in Figs. 1, 2 and 5, the wire I6 is led horizontally from the take-up pulley [3 over a pulley 25 mounted upon a shaft 26 of an upper electric motor 21, then downwardly and around a pulley 23 mounted on the shaft 29 of another lower electric motor 30. From the pulley 28, the wire 96 is led up and over a guide pulley 3| from which it is directed to the spool ll. The upper driving motor 27 is mounted upon an insulating bracket 32 secured to a vertical standard 33, and is arranged to be operated by suitable controls (not shown) at a. speed approximately equal to that of the traveling wire IS. The lower motor 30 is similarly mounted upon an insulated bracket 34, and is also arranged to be operated by suitable controls (not shown) at approximately the speed of the traveling wire 16. By means of this construction, the possibility of stretching of the wire in the heated annealing zone between thev pulleys 25 and 28 will be avoided. The guide pulley 35 is also supported upon an insulating bracket 35 spaced from the standard 33.

In order to provide a non-oxidizing gaseous envelop for the lower portion 36 of the traveling wire l8 between the pulleys 25 and 28, provision is made of an open tube 31, preferably of insulating material, such as pyrex glass or Bakeiite". and having its lower end 4| immersed in a tank 38 of quenching water, said pulley 28 being below the level 42 of the water in said tank. The pulley shaft 29 passes out through the tank 38 to the motor 38 through a stufiing box 39. The tube 31 is rigidly supported, as by a cross-bar 48, in such a manner that the upper end 43 of said tube will lie a considerable distance above the tank 38 and will maintain an atmosphere of hot steam around that portion of the wire between the pulleys 25 and 28 which is at the annealing temperature.

To continuously supply heat to the rapidly moving wire between the pulleys 25 and 28, each motor shaft 26 and 29 has a metal disc 44 secured thereon which is in continuous engagement with a brush contact member 45 (see Figs. 1, 2 and 3). Each brush contact 45 is mounted upon one end of an arm 46 of insulating material having its other end pivoted at 47 to a bracket 48 rigidly supported upon the motor supporting brackets 32 or 34 respectively (Figs. 2 and 3). A coiled spring 49 connected at its ends to the arm 46 and the bracket 48, respectively, serves to maintain each brush contact 45 against its respective rotating contact disc 44.

Electric current is adapted to be supplied to the brushes 45 from the terminals 58 and 5| of a secondary coil 52 of a suitable transformer 53 by means of conductors 55 and 54, respectively (see Fig. 2). The terminals of the primary coil 56 of the transformer 53 are connected by conductors 5'! and 58 to a source of electrical energy, such as a power line-the conductor 58 being connected to an adjustable sliding contact 59 of a rheostat 60, having a variable resistance coil 6|, which in turn is connected to a conductor 62 leading to the other terminal of the power line. The amount of current flowing in the heating zone 36 of the wire between the pulleys 25 and 28 is readily controlled according to the size and speed of wire being drawn by means of the rheostat 60, whereby the proper annealing temperature will be obtained.

In the modified form of the invention shown in Fig. 4, the electrically heated wire 36, after leaving the lower end 4| of the steam tube 31, passes through a relatively small tank 63 entirely filled with water, said tank being suitably supported above the water level of a larger tank 64 located therebeneath. A copious supply of water is adapted to be delivered to the small tank 63 from the larger tank 64 by means of a continuously driven pump 65 having an inlet pipe 65a leading from the tank 64, to an upwardly and laterally extending pipe 66 emptying into the small tank 63. A pipe 61 serves to direct the overflow water laterally to prevent it from falling upon the pulley 28 which might retard its rotative movement. This construction has the advantage that the lower pulley 28 rotates freely in the air instead of below the water level and hence results in a reduction of friction and a material saving of power.

In themodified form of the invention shown in Fig. 5, the wire l6, as it is received from the wiredrawing machine, is directed over a capstan 19, the tension pulley I3, the overhead pulley 25, and passes through the tube 31 and into the tank 38 in the same manner as in the first arrangement shown in Figs. 1 and 2. After leaving the guide pulley 3|, however, the wire is selectively delivered to either one of a pair of the winding spools 68 and 68 rotatively mounted on separate spindles l8 and 10a by a suitable wire guiding member 99. The spools 68 and 69 are each rotated independently by means of a pair of end less belts ll adapted to be pressed against the peripheries of said spools by suitable means, not disclosed herein, but which is fully shown and described in Patent No. 2,029,832 issued to W. D. Pierson February 4, 1936. The endless belts 1| are both run over a pair of spaced apart drums l2 and l3,-the drum 12 being mounted on a shaft 14 which is driven by means of a belt 15 which passes over pulleys l6 and 11 secured on the shaft 14 and the shaft 18 of the capstan 19, respectively. The shaft 18 carries another pulley 88 which is driven by a belt 8| from a pulley 82 on an electric motor 83, which motor may, if desired, also constitute the driving means of the wire-drawing mechanism, not shown.

Fig. 6 illustrates diagrammatically the circuit connections of an electrical means for simultaneously controlling the speed and the current supplied to the wire being annealed.- The motor 83 is connected by a conductor 84 to an electrical line wire 85, and by a conductor 86 to a rotary contact'arm 81 of a speed control rheostat 88, the resistance coil 89 of which is connected by a conductor 90 to the other line wire 9|. The rotary arm 81 is secured upon a shaft 92 having an operating handle 93, whereby the arm 81 may be turned to cut resistance into or out of the motor circuit for controlling the speed of the motor 83 and, through it, the speed of the wiredrawing mechanism-Axe. the capstan l2 (Fig. 1) or the capstan 19 (Fig. 5).

In order to compensate for variations in the linear speed of the wire as it passes through the annealing device so as to obtain a constant annealing temperature of the lower portion 36 of the wire between the pulleys 25 and 28, an apparatus is provided for supplying a variable amount of current to the wire in the annealing zone dependent upon the speed of said wire (see Fig. 6). This variable control apparatus comprises a rheostat 94 including a rotary contact arm 95, which isconnected by a conductor 91 to the conductor 62 previously mentioned, said arm engaging a resistance coil 96 connected by a conductor 98 to the line wire 9|. The rotary contact arm is secured upon the shaft 92 and is rotated thereby. by the handle 93 in synchronism with the motor speed control arm 81. The arrangement is such that when the shaft 92 is rotated to increase the resistance in the circuit of the motor 83 to reduce the speed thereof, a corresponding increase of resistance will also take place in the circuit of the primary coil 56 of the transformer 53, thus lowering the current output of the secondary coil 52, and serving to reduce the heating effect in the wire portion 36.

Operation In the operation of all forms of the above described apparatus, a controlled electric current will pass through the portion 36 of the wire to be annealed between the pulleys 25 and 28 to heat the same to an annealing temperature.

In order to prevent stretching of the softened heated portion of the wire, the pulleys 25 and 28 are driven at approximately the same speed-the possibility of strains in the wire being thereby avoided.

After the wire l6 passes over the upper contact pulley 25, the temperature of the wire is gradually and rapidly increased as it moves downwardly toward the lower contact pulley 28 until it reaches the annealing degree, the wire being protected at this zone by the tube 31. Oxygen and corrosive gases which may be in the air are prevented from entering the tube by the steam which is generated by the quenching of the heated wire when it contacts with the water, said steam rapidly rising in the tube and forming a protecting vapor around the wire therein.

Fig. 7. illustrates a further modification of the present invention. In this form, the wire is traveling at an extremely high rate of speed, and the contact pulleys 25 and 28 are preferably spaced a relatively short distance apart. The annealing zone will thus be relatively short, and the wire in passing through said annealing zone, will move so rapidly that it will not have time to oxidize or discolor.

It will be understood that when stopping or starting the machine, the annealing temperature of the wire will be automatically maintained constant by means of the control apparatus shown in Fig. 6, as above described. The annealing temperature may also be manually controlled by adjusting the resistance in the heating circuit by means of the rheostat 60.

It has been found that by extending the end iii of the tube 31 for a distance below the level of the water 42, the water which is enclosed within the tube is caused to quickly become highly heated, and in fact, to flash into steam, which steam passes upwardly in large volumes through the tube and thus completely prevents the entrance of air. It will also be understood that the main body of water in the cooling tank 38 (or 63) will not be heated but will remain at a relatively low temperature, so as to properly cool the wire after annealing.

It will be further understood that wherever the word spooling is employed in the present specification and claims, the word "coiling is also implied within the scope thereof.

While there have been disclosed in this specification several forms in which the invention may be embodied, it is to be understood that these forms are shown and described for the purpose of illustration only, and that the invention is not to be limited to the specific disclosures, but may be modified and embodied in various other forms without departing from its spirit. In short, the invention includes all the modifications and embodiments coming within the scope of the following claims.

Having thus fully described the invention, what is claimed as new, and for which it is desired to secure Letters Patent, is:

1. In an apparatus for annealing a rapidly moving wire, means for passing an electric cur rent through a portion of said wire to heat it to the annealing temperature, a water bath for quenching the heated wire after annealing, an open ended electrically and heat insulated tube closely surrounding the highly heated portion oi said wire, the lower end 01' said tube extending below the surface 01' said water bath a sufficient distance as to cause a local heating of the water confined in said tube to the boiling temperature and causing said confined boiling water to flash into steam to envelop the heated wire with a nonoxidizing atmosphere before it passes into said water bath and thereby prevent discoloration of v said wire.

2. In. an apparatus for annealing a rapidly traveling wire as it is received from a wiredrawing mechanism, a pair of driven electrically conductive pulleys over which the wire runs, said pulleys being located one above the other, means for passing an electric current through said wire between said pulleys, a water bath located between said pulleys for quenching the hot wire before it reaches the lowermost pulley, an upwardly extending tube surrounding the hot portion of said wire and depending beneath the water level of said water bath for enveloping said hot portion with a protective non-oxidizing atmosphere or steam formed from the local heating of the small amount of water in said tube.

JOHN COOK. 

